Report: Cards DC Todd Bowles pulls name from Browns coaching job

By Josh Katzowitz | NFL Writer

January 14, 2014 4:34 PM ET

Todd Bowles had success as the interim head coach in Miami. (USATSI)

Last week, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels withdrew his name from consideration for the Browns head coaching position. This week, it was Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles' turn to do the same.

Bowles, who was the interim coach for the Dolphins after the team fired Tony Sparano near the end of the 2011 season and has failed to land a full-time head coaching job since then, reportedly has withdrawn from the Cleveland job, according to Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo.

There are two ways to look at this. 1) Bowles realized he wasn't going to get the job, which then would lead us to believe that the Cleveland brain trust actually knows who it wants to hire, or 2) the Browns job is so toxic that a man who's never been given the opportunity to be a head coach has decided he has no use for it.

For Cleveland fans' sake, you have to hope it's the former, but really, would anybody actually be surprised if it was the latter?

As for McDaniels' reasoning to take his name out of the running, he told reporters Tuesday, via NESN.com, “This is the right time for me to be here ... It just means that I made a decision to be here. I'm very happy here. Sometime you have to make choices for what's best for you and your family, and that's what I tried to do.”

Most observers believed McDaniels was the team's top choice, but now that he's out of the picture, it appears that Cleveland's No. 1 pick would be Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase. Enough so that the Browns reportedly will wait to pick a head coach until they get the chance to talk to Gase after the Broncos' season is complete.

In other news, Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who happened to be a hot coaching candidate last offseason, has reportedly been given permission to interview for other head coaching or assistant coaching positions by the franchise, according to ESPN.com.